It is desirable to dispense rolls of sheet material such as, for example, rolls of bathroom tissue, in a sequential manner. Dispensers that store and sequentially dispense rolls of sheet material can be used to insure that a reserve roll or rolls is available when the dispensing roll is depleted. Occasionally, this can be extremely important in situations such as, for example, public and institutional washroom facilities.
Dispensers that store and sequentially dispense rolls of sheet material have another advantage in that they do not need to be reloaded each time the dispensing roll is depleted. In the past, dispensers have been designed to contain one or more reserve rolls of material that can be used when the roll at the dispensing position is depleted. In some cases, these designs require mechanical adjustment of the dispenser by a user to gain access to a reserve roll or to have a reserve roll sequentially placed in a dispensing position. Such contact between a user and a dispenser can be undesirable, especially in settings such as public rest rooms.
Dispensers have been developed to with features that automatically advance a reserve roll into a dispensing position. Generally speaking, automatic dispensers tend to be complex, expensive and have the potential to jam. Some automatic dispensers use complex position locking mechanisms and/or springs, gears or the like. Generally speaking, these complicated features tend to be expensive, unreliable, and have the potential to jam.
Accordingly, there is a need for a simple, inexpensive apparatus for sequentially dispensing sheet material from rolls of sheet material. There is also a need for a simple, gravity-operated apparatus for sequentially dispensing sheet material from rolls of sheet material.